Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

John Fuller: Well, Chad Robichaux was a former Marine, and he serves and protects Americans all over the world, most recently in Ukraine, in some incredible ways. And, uh, he’s our guest today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Thanks for joining us. I’m John Fuller.

Jim Daly: John, we owe so much here on Veterans Day, to think about, and we should think about it every day, but what we owe to veterans like Chad, who dedicated and are continuing to dedicate their lives to protecting our freedom and safety, and today, we want to honor them. That’s what this day is for. Uh, Chad has incredible stories of his time working to rescue people from conflicts like Afghanistan, in the Middle East, to all the way now to the Ukraine. And we’re gonna learn a lot about what it means to be selfless. And he’s got some great stories, and is accomplishing so much that nobody knows about.

John: Mm-hmm. Yeah, he really is reaching out and helping veterans in so many ways. Uh, Chad is married to Kathy. They have two grown sons. Uh, both of those boys served in the Marines, and, uh, they have a grown daughter, and a pretty much baby adopted daughter.

Jim: (laughs)

John: Uh, his latest book is called A Mission Without Borders: Why a Father and Son Risked It All for the People of Ukraine. It’s a terrific read. You can find out more at our website. And we’ve got the link at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast.

Jim: Chad, welcome back to Focus.

Chad Robichaux: Yeah, good to be back.

Jim: It’s good to have you. Um, let’s just start right with that comment I made about what you and those that serve with you, men and women in the Armed Forces. Um, you know, at one point you think of it as a career, but when the bell sounds and everything’s on, like a conflict, those known, those unknown, that we’re engaged with around the world, I mean, it’s everything on the line.

Chad: Yeah. Well, a- I’ve been in and around the military for 30 years, now. And, and, and one of the things that my age is really, (laughs) letting me see is, is-

Jim: (laughs)

Chad: … the perspective of, of service much differently. Because when I went in the Marine Corps, 17 years old, I had this aspiration. I was gonna be in special operations, that’s all I ever wanted to do. From 13 years old, I started preparing for that. So it was very much, uh, you know-

Jim: 13 years old, you knew?

Chad: … uh … I knew. Yeah.

Jim: Well, and, but-

Chad: I knew that’s what I wanted to do.

Jim: … your father or grandfather, right? You had-

Chad: Well, uh, mean, we go back f- to World War I, 85 years, World War I, World War II, Korea. My father was the first Marine in our family, served in Vietnam as a infantryman. And, uh, probably wasn’t … didn’t create the best scenario. It created a very dysfunctional home. But even though that I saw my dad, uh, like struggle with anger, and alcohol, and, and, you know, womanizing, and all these things, the one thing that made m- made my dad proud and stand up tall was the fact that he was a United States Marine.

Jim: Hm.

Chad: And so that made me have a desire. I was like, “If that can make (laughs) that miserable guy happy, I want a piece of that.” And maybe I had this desire to be a Marine, and I wanted to be special operations. So my brother and I had, had, had, by 13, h- He was 14. We made the decision to, to do that together. And, uh, we started training for that. And I think I maybe s- mentioned this show before. My, my brother, uh, about a year into that, was tragically shot and killed, and, and, uh, you know, it created, uh, even more of a just division in my home. My … I ended up living on my own at, at 15 years old. But I never-

John: Hm.

Chad: … s- lost that goal of wanting to go into the Marine Corps and pursue being … becoming a reconnaissance Marine. And so g- But going in the Marine Corps that young age, uh, uh, it was definitely a, a sense of service. I know I-

Jim: So you went in-

Chad: … said that.

Jim: … at 18?

Chad: 17.

Jim: You … (laughs)

Chad: 17.

Jim: Was that legal? (laughs)

John: (laughs)

Chad: Yeah, yeah. I had, I had pa- parental consent, you get parental-

Jim: Okay, wow.

Chad: … consent to go in and, uh, I turned 18, actually, in, in Marine Corps boot camp.

John: Wow.

Jim: Yeah.

Chad: And, uh, a- And I think my father joined at 17 and my, my oldest son, Hunter joined at 17. So, uh, so yeah, we all-

Jim: That’s amazing.

Chad: … really turned out.

John: Family tradition.

Chad: Yeah, a family tradition.

Jim: Let me, let me turn this to your time in Afghanistan. Uh, last time you were on, and people can certainly go listen to this. I’d encourage you to do that, because it was such a fabulous, insightful story about your time there in Afghanistan, and what you did to help rescue people. But you work in, in … You can describe this role quickly for the listeners-

Chad: Yeah, sure.

Jim: … that didn’t hear it, but you’re kinda … You were out there, by yourself, pretty much, doing that reconnaissance. You were making friends with villagers.

Chad: Mm-hmm.

Jim: Uh, you ended up hooking up with a man named Aziz, who became, I think your interpreter.

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: Describe that relationship, how that came about, and then-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … what happened when the war came to an end there, and-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … we had that, um, you know, uh, I guess you’d say wind up, or retreat, or whatever you call that.

Chad: Yeah. (laughs) Retreat’s probably a good word for it.

Jim: Yeah, the-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … y- your further engagement, there, to get Aziz home-

John: Yeah.

Jim: … or get Aziz here.

Chad: Yeah, well, I mean, real quickly, uh, f- Marine Corps doesn’t have a JSOC element, joint special operations command element. So the Marine Corps allows peop- we allo- We send people. And so I, I was very privileged to represent the Marine Corps at JSOC, joint special operations command in a tier one special operations unit. My job was AFO, advanced force operator. And, uh, and so that job is … There’s very few people that do it. You just kinda be … like being undercover. And you go ahead of your unit to build all the infrastructure, living and working with the local nationals.

Jim: In the villages?

Chad: Yeah, all over. Yeah. In the villages, cities, back, you know, it’s … you’re ne- I spent in eight deployments to Afghanistan, I spent about two weeks on a base. And, uh, so, I, I, uh, you know, lived, and dressed, and, and with the local nationals. And, and yeah, I worked in what’s called a single to capacity, meaning by myself with a local national. That local national was Aziz. And so Aziz and I were in the mountains of Afghanistan, uh, across the border into Pakistan, in the Fi- Federal Administered Tribal areas, building all the infrastructure, put our assaulters on targets to capture or kill bad guys. And my command was going after whoever was on the top 10 list. And we did that probably over a hundred times, a hundred missions of doing that in, in, uh, my eight deployments. And, uh, you know, Aziz saved my life multiple times, uh, in kinetic combat, but probably saved my life every day, like, “Don’t walk there. Don’t eat that. Don’t talk to that person. If you talk right now, they’re gonna kill us.” So he’s i- i- in, uh, when we were not operating, I didn’t go back to base and he went home. I went to his home, his wife, Hatra, made me my first meal, and, uh, a warm meal. And I, I held his babies when they were born. Uh, uh, Mashood and Mashooda, so he was family to me. So when the withdrawal took place and, uh, I know we’re not gonna get into what I feel about the withdrawal, uh, it … ‘Cause I’d go on and on about that. But when the withdrawal took place, the one thing I had control of was to go back and get my friend, Aziz, his wife, and six kids. And so I put together a small team of special operations veterans. We went to get Aziz, his wife, six kids, and in the midst of that, God orchestrated a miracle and used us to, uh, rescue s- another 17,000 people.

Jim: I mean, that’s amazing-

John: Wow.

Jim: … amazing-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … 17,000. And we captured a great deal of that story last time. So again-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: You can go and listen to it, but in that context, I mean, uh, that’s like phenomenal to be out there on your own in that way, and dealing. I mean, your, your sense of awareness has to be so high.

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: So you turned your focus after that, you, uh, with the, uh, conflict in the Ukraine, um, at that point, you’re outta the service, I think. And-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: Yet there was this pull, kinda like what you did in Afghanistan during the withdrawal to get A- A- Aziz and 17,000 others out, which is amazing in itself. You turned your attention onto Ukraine. I guess the big question is what opportunity presented itself-

John: Hm.

Jim: … and why you said, “Okay, this is something we need to do?”

Chad: Y- Yeah, uh, so we, we … When we first got there, uh, you know, I was, like everywhere else I go, we try to develop access and placement to make sure we can get to where we need to go. And we start d- you know, kind of assessing the area and how we’re gonna operate. And one of the things, I wanted to see what the reality was, b- b- oh, you know, you always wanna see, people on the mainstream media, what the reality is. And so went to the border, seen the border crossings, went to some of the refugee centers. And I went to this refugee center. And it was … And, and, and I’ve been to many places around the world that have had humanitarian crisis s- and, and seen refugee centers. But the one thing pa- unique about this was it was only, uh, women, and children, and older men, because all the men were forced to stay in the Ukraine. And, uh, and when I seen that, it was just heartbreaking. These women were scared and these kids were scared d- without their husbands, or brothers, or, or, or fathers there. And, uh, and, and so we went and toured it, and then we started walking away. And I, and I, and I seen this flower shop. And I, and I … I was with my … one of my buddies who is, uh, Roman, who’s, he speaks Ukrainian and, and, uh, and, and Russian. He’s ha- He’s half Ukraine and half Russian. And I’m like, “Would … you think we should ge- should get some flowers and bring ’em back? Uh, is it gonna be weird, these women s- gonna think we have, you know, bad- ”

Jim: Yeah.

Chad: ” … intentions because they’re scared?” And he’s like, “No, they would love it.” So we s- We started buying wa- as many flowers as we could. And then the lady asked, “What are you getting all these flowers for?” And when we told her, the lady at the flower shop, they just started piling on flowers, and we went-

Jim: Oh, wow.

Chad: … back, and, and started giving flowers to these ladies. And, uh, it was a … It was just such a, a really just sweet moment that they were, you know, some of ’em were just taking a rose, and balling up, and-

Jim: Yeah.

Chad: … smelling it, and crying. And then, you know, and then the border, like, we’re going onto the border and seeing i- i- When you see stuff like this, and, and I’m sure a lotta people that have watched this on mainstream media news, you, you get frustrated. Uh, ’cause when the k- These … A lotta these things right now are happening, ’cause the governments of the world, including our own, by the way, are not doing the right thing. And, uh, and I went on that border, and I didn’t see one government in the world represented on that border.

Jim: Hm.

Chad: And, and that, that reflects that. But what I did see were good people.

John: Hm.

Chad: And what I’ve seen in, in my lifetime is when the governments of the world fail, good people stand up and do the right thing. A- and mainly, it was, it was, it was churches from around the world-

Jim: Think of that.

Chad: … Christian community on that border, receiving these people, these women and ch- coming across wet, cold, their cell phones dead, they’re outta gas. The line is 14 days long, to get out of the Ukraine at that time. Uh, it’s-

Jim: 14 days?

Chad: … 14 days, uh, long. They’re d- They’re, they’re basically like in, in shock, uh, many of ’em are shocked. They’re without their, their husbands. Uh, so it’s mainly women and children. And they’re coming acro- And there’s people there that have POWSAV jackets. There’s people that have a, a cell phone so they could contact their loved ones and let ’em know they’re okay, with a, with a SIM chip, there’s people there with empty sea- They drove their empty seats in their car to be able to drive this. There was these Indian guys out there making, uh, call- uh, big bowls of h- warm cauliflower curry.

John: Hm.

Chad: Uh, and, and, and there was this one guy that came from Germany. He drove a grand piano, pulled it behind his car, and he’s sitting there in the snow. It’s like very cold, wind blowing. He’s playing Elton John, Imagine.

Jim: (laughs)

Chad: And I, and I went up and I said, “What are you doing?” He’s like, I just g- I wanna do something. I didn’t know what else to do. And all I know how to do is play piano. So I thought, “All they’re gonna hear is chaos and war when they come across the border. I wanted them to hear something nice.”

Jim: Kinda like the-

John: Yeah.

Jim: … flowers.

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: Just something-

Chad: Something-

Jim: … peaceful, something-

Chad: … nice, yeah.

Jim: … right in a world that-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … looks all wrong, right?

Chad: Yeah, so just, you know, it’s just, like I said, when the governments wasn’t there, doing anything, people came together and did-

John: Yeah.

Jim: … the right thing.

John: Mm-hmm. Well, this is Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. And our guest today is Chad Robichaux. Uh, what an incredible, uh, set of circumstances he is encountering. And he captures, as he said, a small percentage of those stories in this great book. Uh, it’s called A Mission Without Borders: Why a Father and Son Risked It All or the People of Ukraine. Uh, get a copy of this book. You’ll be inspired. You’ll be challenged. Uh, it’s a terrific resource, and we have it here at the ministry. The link, uh, to get yours is at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast.

Jim: Uh, Chad, one of the efforts in the Ukraine that you were part of, and planned, was the rescue of a journalist named Ben Hall. Uh, what happened with Ben Hall and what did you and the team that you put-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … together have to do with the … his situation?

Chad: Yeah, um, uh, before I answer that, can I, can I say one thing real quick? Uh, I think it’s important for listeners to know. Because I, I … With Ukraine, there’s been such a division, especially when we both have Christian audiences, and, and, and we’re, you know, conservative people. I’ve gotten so much h- uh, heat from people. “Why are you in Ukraine? Look at what’s going on in America. We’re giving hundreds of millions of dollars away.” And, and I hear that. And I agree. I don’t think hundreds of millions of dollars are not going to the right place. Ukraine is a corrupt country. And people are saying, you know, “Zelenskyy’s corrupt.” And I agree. I personally believe Zelenskyy is corrupt. But people in Washington D cer- DC are corrupt. And if you think, if you’re surprised that a politician’s corrupt, you should probably read a history book, right? (laughs)

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: (laughs) Right.

Chad: Like a-

Jim: That’s fair.

Chad: I, I didn’t go to Ukraine for Zelenskyy, or President Biden, or any politician. I went there to help people. And, and as Christians, and, and c- and conserva- especially conservative Christians, if we ever let our politics get in the way of a heart for people, we should-

Jim: Hm.

Chad: … probably change our politics. I-

Jim: No, that’s really good.

Chad: And, uh, and I think this is important to note that as people hear about what we did in Ukraine, because people really are misunderstood about it because they don’t … The mainstream media doesn’t cover anything beyond headlines, and a million people … over a million people have died there, mainly women and children, civilians. And that’s what we’ve seen. And you know, bi- and Benjamin Hall was there t- He was one of the journalists that was there to try to cover the truth. And he embedded himself in Kyiv at a time when Russia was taking the capitol city, Kyiv. And so when he was there, the Russians were closing around Kyiv. They were trying to take the capitol. Uh, there were ballistic missiles the size of telephone poles, flying into apartment buildings and civilian residences, MiG fighter jets dropping bombs, uh, Russian infantry and tanks closing in on the city. And he got hit. And when he got hit, uh, his FOX correspondent, Sasha, was killed immediately. Pierre Zakrzewski, his 25-year cameraman for FOX was killed immediately. The two Ukrainian soldiers that were protecting them, their security, was killed immediately. And, and he was catastrophically wounded, and probably had about 48 hours to live. That information, uh, made it back to the Pentagon. And the Pentagon contacted us as well as the CIA’s, what’s called the solo special operations liaison officer, reached out to us to ask us if we would step in to go get Benjamin Hall. The reason why is because the White House had forbid any US presence, including Central Intel- y- You’d think maybe, “Oh, well, maybe Delta force is there. Maybe the CIA.” They were grounded to be able to go and do any kinda rescues or anything. So I mean, Delta force we, we’re friends with all the guys. They were, they were at the ho- I won’t say what hotel, they were at a hotel, and they were on standby, and they were mad they couldn’t come with us, right? They wanted to go. The CIA wanted to go. So this … We were on the phone, uh, with the Pentagon, and a s- and a solo to coordinate this. And the Pentagon was coordinating 82nd Airborne, uh, the Army’s 82nd Airborne to liaison with us. And I remember getting a phone call, uh, my buddy Seaspray was our ground lead there. We’re in a safe house. And I guess he’s on the phone. And he kinda gives his hand up for everybody to be quiet. And he collects the information, and he d- puts down the phone, and he says, “Benjamin Hall, a FOX News reporter, is catastrophically wounded. His team is s- killed. No one’s going to get him. He, he probably has about 48 hours to live. And he has a wife- ”

John: Mm-hmm.

Chad: ” … and two little girls at home.”

Jim: Huh.

Chad: “Who, who, who’s in?” And everyone in that-

John: Hm.

Chad: … room raised their hand. And, uh, and we crossed the border, and, uh, we went into Kyiv and, and, and Seaspray’s, uh, well, there was two of us t- teams separated. I was the … Seaspray was the Alpha team, I was the Bra- uh, I was leading the Bravo team. And, and Seaspray’s team got him. We got a … We got him across the border, and at-

Jim: This is the middle of the Russian troops taking-

Chad: This i- this is, this is like D-Day of-

Jim: Yeah.

Chad: … Kyiv. This, this is D-Day of Kyiv. I mean-

Jim: But how-

Chad: … rockets fly-

Jim: … in the world did you maneuver in that environment?

Chad: Well-

Jim: How many guys were you?

Chad: Well, we, we had a … We brought, uh, nine of us across the border in two vehicles. Uh, and, and, and, and w- the … God, God ar- I gotta give-

Jim: You were like ghosts.

Chad: God orchestrated a miracle in this, because whenever you’re doing operations like this, y- You have to, uh, have what’s called, we call it access and placement. So you can be as good as you want at doing something, but if you can’t be there, if you don’t have the ability to be there, you can’t do it. So access and placement is key, these operations. So we knew the only way to get through, through Ukraine in the middle of the night and get through all of these checkpoints that are unorchestrated, you have to have a, a, a plausible reason to go. The most only plausible reason was medical teams. So we had just bought ambulances, got, got … We created an ambulance, uh, rescue company, we put stamps on it, and made ID cards, and, uh, you put stamps on anything in the world, that’s a good trade-

Jim: (laughs)

Chad: … craft secret. You, you can get in through … You can get anywhere. And, uh, and so we had access and placement an hour before we got that call.

John: Uh-

Chad: And I believe God orchestrated the timing.

John: Wow.

Chad: ‘Cause if we had not have, at that place and an hour before that call, we woulda not been able to get it.

John: Yeah.

Chad: And so when we got Benjamin Hall, we drove him across the border, and we were coordinate with the Pentagon in the solo, and, and the 82nd Airborne was waiting for us to cross that border. We got him on a Black Hawk helicopter. Uh, they flew him to a Air Medical Unit. He flew to Landstuhl, Germany. And then on the Brooke Army Medical Center where he-

John: Wow.

Jim: Saved his life.

Chad: … and … well, and he’s … He lost a, a leg, a foot, a hand that they put back on, an eye.

John: Huh.

Chad: But he’s, he’s, he’s, uh, he’s … I mean, it has video of him dancing with his little girls on his prosthetics.

John: Aw.

Jim: Well, that-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … says it all.

Chad: Yeah. And then we, then we were asked to go back and get Pierre Zakrzewski’s body. We s- I said, “No,” uh, because obviously, i- But his wife got on the phone and said, “I want my husband.” And we said, “Yes ma’am.”

John: Yeah. Wow.

Chad: “Change of plans.” And we went.

Jim: I mean d- Wow. That just sounds like the heart of God, saving a life-

John: Hm.

Jim: … like that. I mean, that’s-

John: Hm.

Jim: … what He does for each one of us-

John: Yeah.

Jim: … spiritually, right?

John: Right.

Chad: He does. Yeah. Yeah.

Jim: That’s what we talk about, everlasting-

John: Hm.

Jim: … life through Christ.

Chad: Yeah.

John: Hm.

Jim: And this is a physical representation of that.

John: Yeah.

Jim: That’s what makes it so amazing, Chad.

John: Yeah.

Jim: Um, in fact, Seaspray, you mentioned him, in the book he had a comment that I wanted to ask you to, to make mention of, where you’re talking about these missions into the Ukraine and why you’re doing it. And I think it was him who-

John: Hm.

Jim: … said, “It doesn’t have to be worth it.”

Chad: Yeah. To, to really explain it, I’d have to tell you who’s … who Seaspray is when I tell you-

Jim: (laughs)

Chad: … his name …

Jim: He sounds like a character.

John: (laughs)

Chad: Yeah, he, he’s a guy, he … His whole life, he wanted to be in the CIA as a paramilitary officer, which is, the, the military, paramilitary unit in the s- in the CIA. So he was the youngest … At the time, he was the youngest person to become a green beret, uh, made it through to 18X program to become a green beret, got Oxford educated. Went to the CIA. Went to Ground Branch and, and Maritime Branch, was the paramilitary units of the, of the CIA, became a precision rescue expert, uh, one of, probably only the three most qualified precision experts in the world. And so he made it like the lottery, to make it to his dream job. He’s in Afghanistan, rescuing people with us on … at HKIA. And he, and he was on … He took leave because the military wouldn’t allow him to go there. He said he was sailing. And they catch him there.

Jim: Sh. Don’t-

Chad: And they said-

Jim: … mention that. (laughs)

Chad: Yeah. And they catch him there to say, “Hey, we love you. Slap on the wrist. Go back home. You’re not allowed to be out here, doing this.” And he resigned.

John: Huh.

Jim: Wow.

Chad: He resigned … He resigned from a job he worked his whole life to do, the most prestigious job in military special operations, for people he never met before, from the country not his own. He lost 37 pounds in that 10 days, going outside the wire. We were having to force-feed him bottles of water, because he was … h- he was selflessly-

Jim: Saving people.

Chad: … rescuing these little girls, uh-

Jim: Yeah.

Chad: … and, and people. And, uh, and so now we get to Ukraine, and, and we’re going to … He and I are on this operation, we’re going to rescue this Marine, this US Marine had volunteered, got shot in the stomach. He had got captured by the Russians. We had some information. We were working with the CIA to go rescue this Marine. We ended up losing l- uh, track of where he was. So we didn’t get him. So that they … We were asked to go identify these mass graves. And so we were … We had been awake for days, just him and I, driving. We had been up, we were sleeping out, outside, we were just tired. We were hungry. And this FOX News reporter that we were leaking this information to called us, and she was just … She was nasty to us, to be honest with you. She was just kinda … She was not pro Ukra- u- being there in Ukraine. And she was like, “What are you guys even doing there?” And I was just irritated with her. I was, and I would snap back at her. I was like, “It’s the right thing to do. Like, you know?”

John: Hm.

Chad: “Don’t you get it? Like, like sometimes you’re like- ”

Jim: Saving a life.

Chad: “Yeah. We’re, we’re doing the right thing.” And then she asked Seaspray that question. Right? You think about what, what he gave up. She said, “Is it worth it?” And he just said … it’s without even hesitation, “It doesn’t have to be. Right? It doesn’t have to be worth it to do the right thing.” And a guy who gave up everything, right, and, and, and you contrast that with most Americans, uh, and, and, um, I love this country. I love our, our people. I’m a patriot. But the truth is most Americans are pretty … We’re pretty selfish people ’cause of our culture, and, and, and the privileges we have here. And we put a ROI on everything. “I’ll give my time, I’ll give my resources, I’ll give my money. Uh, it, and it might be a c- a noble cause, but what’s the wor- What the return investment?”

Jim: Cost benefit.

Chad: Right. “What’s, what’s in it for me?”

Jim: (laughs)

Chad: And, and this guy who gave up everything says, “It doesn’t have to be worth it to do the right thing. We don’t always have to all have ROI. Sometimes we do the right thing- ”

John: Wow.

Chad: ” … just ’cause it’s the right thing to do.”

Jim: Yeah, I mean, I’ve never-

Chad: (laughs)

Jim: … heard it said that way, but it’s profound. Uh, and it’s-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … very Christian-

Chad: It convicted me. (laughs)

Jim: … if you say it that way.

Chad: (laughs)

John: Yes.

Chad: I mean-

Jim: Right?

Chad: In that moment, in the middle of me even doing this, it, it just convicted me, ’cause-

John: Yeah.

Chad: … I mean, I, I measure everything with like the metrics of-

John: Yeah.

Chad: … you know-

Jim: You know, I, I want also to mention Mighty Oaks. I wanna capture that. So we’re leaving the battlefields, and-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … all of your, uh, veteran experience after you’ve served, and the things you still do in these conflict areas, to help people, whether it’s delivering a flower to a child or a woman who’s, uh, you know, catastrophically impacted by a war, and they’re on the, the refugee path. Or, it’s actively engage, trying to save a journalist who’s about to die.

John: Yeah.

Jim: But moving now back home, like you said, to Mighty Oaks, an … a organization that you formed to do what?

Chad: Yeah, well, Mighty Oaks is, is formed (laughs) out of, you know, people caring for me when I came home. I came home and dealt with debilitating panic attacks, anxiety, depression. I had a suicide attempt in 2010.

Jim: Hm.

Chad: And, uh, and, uh, I had … did a lotta things to recover, but nothing was more profound than a restoration of my faith, becoming a Christian, surrendering my life to Jesus, and then being a discipled for a year, and, and, and taught how to live biblically in response to these things, make choices that if I bou- louns- la- outlines the response to the things that I dealt with, and, and it was a profound thing for me. And I, and, and I had a … God put a deed board on my heart to pay it forward that manifesting the founding of Mighty Oaks Foundation. And since that time, 14 years ago, we’ve … uh, I, I’ve spoken to over a f- half a million active duty troops on bases around the world on the topic of spiritual resiliency. Uh, um, we … My, my podcast is called The Resilient Show, ’cause resiliency is the topic that I think matters most, not just in the military, but our culture and our world, uh, being resilient. And spiritual resiliency is, is at the foundation of that. Uh, and then, um, and then we have a recovery program where we bring active duty service members, veterans, first responders to our ranches. They go through a i- intensive program. We do about $8 million a year for free. Uh, so it’s-

John: Hm.

Chad: … if anybody, a veteran, a first responder, or a active duty service is listening, spouse of, we even pay for the travel. Uh, a grea- I, I say, “We do.” Uh, uh, I’d say that loosely. A Grateful Nation does, uh, through supporting us.

Jim: Yeah, donors?

Chad: Yeah, donors. Yeah. And then, uh, and then we have a advocacy program, uh, I’ve testified now a dozen times in, in Washington DC before Congress and Senate of, of s- I served as chairman of White House state-based coalition of Veteran Affairs, and really pushing to make sure we have legislation. And I even got executive orders passed to get … make sure, uh, our veterans have access to faith-based programs. And then Mighty Oaks has a international arm, too, that we … They’ll do rescue operations, but my son, for example-

John: Yeah.

Chad: … who went to Ukraine, uh, their team, uh, went in and, and trained 300 pastors to become chaplains. And-

John: Hm.

Chad: That might not sound like a big deal. But if, uh, if I could just explain real quick, o- on a Sunday morning you might go to church and there’s half women, half men. Next Sunday you go to church and it’s all women. Where are the men? They’re on the frontline, defending your homes and family. And this pastor … These are tight communities. Little Ivan, he’s been in his, in his, his youth program. And now he’s off defending, uh, our, our families and our, and our freedom, and our neighborhoods. So the pastors who had a desire to go out and s- and serve their, their men and their young men that, that was defending, but they did … They didn’t know how. I mean, they didn’t know how to sleep in the woods, poop in the woods, uh-

Jim: Yeah.

Chad: Put on a tourniquet. And how, r- him not be a burden? How to, how to, uh, minister to someone who’s in the middle, not PTSD, but in the middle of losing buddies, and, and probably the, the average lifespan is 4.5 days for Ukraine’s troop on the frontline.

John: Uh-

Chad: So, so there, the clock’s ticking when they go. So how do you minister to that? And so Might Oaks and our, our international team when in and, and trained 300 pastors to chaplains, and they equipped and des- ployed them to the front lines-

Jim: Yeah.

Chad: … to minister. So that’s some of the things we do at Mighty Oaks.

Jim: And, and it’s amazing. We’ll put a link on the website-

John: Absolutely.

Jim: … too, for people that can go there. But Chad, let me ask you right at the end, here, if I could, uh, Veterans Day again. Uh, veterans that are going through experiences like you went through, with PTSD, and you mentioned it quickly, but I caught it in terms of depression, suicidal ideation, highest rates of suicide exist amongst the veteran community.

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: Uh, can you pray for them right now as we end today?

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: Can I ask you to do that?

Chad: Lord, we just, uh, we come to you and, uh, on this Veterans Day, and, and, and, uh, I ask, Lord, that you will, uh, penetrate the hearts of every veteran and, and the families of, Lord. Uh, we know that, that the freedoms we have in this country are God ordained from in our Constitution. Uh, but they have been, they’ve been maintained and they’ve been orchestrated through your provision, Lord, to bring service members since 1775, and every man and woman that donned that uniform since 1775, and fought, bled, and died for these freedoms, Lord.

John: Hm.

Chad: We, as Americans, appreciate them. Lord, so today on Veterans Day, uh, if you could just penetrate the hearts of every veteran and know they’re, they’re loved, they’re appreciated. We honor them for their, their preservation of our freedom and the-

John: Hm.

Chad: … sacrifices they make whether in combat or not in combat, just by raising their hand and being willing. Lord, we, as a, as a nation are grateful for them, regardless of what they see on the news, and politics, and division, and divide, Lord, they will know wherever they fought that this country is a country of patriots who love, and respect, and thankful for them, Lord. And I, and I thank you, that we were born in a country, uh, that we’re born into freedoms, Lord. And, and I-

John: Hm.

Chad: … pray that these, that these veterans and active duty service members will have access to, uh, to you being the solution to the hardships that they face in their service, Lord. Uh, that we will, we will win the war in, in, in the halls of Congress, that we have before. I’ve seen your victories before, that we’ll see those victories again, that we’ll win the war in Congress, that the … every active duty service member, the veteran will have access to you as a solution to their hardships and trauma, Lord. We’ll see a spiritual revival in our, in our United States Military, and that they’ll, uh, our military will be strengthened and embolden with the spiritual resiliency that only you can provide, Lord. And I, I pray today, uh, for the families of our service members, that they will enjoy this day that honors them on Veterans Day.

John: Hm.

Chad: In Jesus’ name, amen.

Jim: Amen, Chad. Thank you so much. Thanks for everything-

Chad: Absolutely.

Jim: … you’ve done. It’s so i-

Chad: Oh. (laughs)

Jim: … you know, insufficient to say thank you.

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: But you-

Chad: Uh-

Jim: … embody the, the whole perspective. And I am grateful for what you and your family has done for our nation.

Chad: Well, yeah. I’m thankful. Well, I’m thankful for what you guys do at Focus on the Family, and uh, I know you guys have not just been good friends, but have the … those … you all know, m- m- ministry’s hard. And I have a wife of 29 years, and, uh, and we went to Hope Restored-

Jim: Yeah.

Chad: … where a lotta-

Jim: That’s so good.

Chad: … pastors go, a lot of ministry leaders go, and, uh, and, and so you guys, you know, served our family.

Jim: Well, that’s-

Chad: And, uh, and that’s-

Jim: … cherished-

Chad: Yeah.

Jim: … endorsement.

Chad: (laughs) Yeah. (laughs)

Jim: So thank you so much-

Chad: Thank you.

Jim: … for that. And, uh, you need to get a copy of the book, Mission Without Borders, uh, get that directly from Focus on the Family. Make a gift of any amount. And like we often do, because we believe in the content so strongly, if you can’t afford it, get ahold of us. We’re gonna get it to you. That’s our mission as a Christian organization, especially for veterans. Uh, we get it. And we’ll trust others who can will cover the cost of that.

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And, uh, the idea is just to give you hope. And that’s what Focus is here to do. That’s what Mighty Oaks is here to do for you, particularly as veterans. And, uh, if you can make that gift, now, we actually have some friends, great friends that ha- are able to double the gift, which makes it even, uh, better, wider, deeper.

John: Hm.

Jim: We’ll be able to do more here at the Christmas season in the coming year, with those gifts that come in. So $50 becomes a hundred-

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … and so forth. So, uh-

John: Hm.

Jim: Do that. Take them up on that challenge. They want to provide that resource to Focus. And we want to speak, uh, to the great work of other organizations like Mighty Oaks, that are doing so much to help people around them.

John: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Call today, donate today. And, uh, your contribution will will be doubled. Uh, call to get a copy of this book. We also have caring Christian counselors. Uh, we’re here for you. And our number is 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. Well, the link to all these resources, and, uh, further details about Might Oaks, and Chad’s great work at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Well, join us next time. We’ll hear from Dr. Ken Wilgus with insights to help you launch your teen into adulthood.

Dr. Ken Wilgus: We live in an unusual culture that does not have a standardized means of transitioning our children into adulthood. Because of that, you don’t have to give teenagers everything they want. But they do need to know, “Am I on a track, here, where you will be out of my life, and it will be up to me?”

John: On behalf of the entire team, thanks for joining us for Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I’m John Fuller inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.